We woke up without much in the way of money as well. The change of $20 from the tuk-tuk driver amounted to only 100,000 Kip. So as well as finding breakfast, we needed to use an ATM or money exchange. Right off the bat, this was obviously a tourist town, and for all the right reasons. Little hotels and home-stays line the tree-laden streets near the Philaylack Villa. We are in the ancient part of town between two rivers. The Makong, the larger of the two, has pleasant restaurants overlooking the ferry boats from road level. The flow of tourists has ensured an adequate mix of travel agencies, mid-scale places to eat, and a thriving night market. I'm very happy we "landed" here.
We keep running into the foreigners from our previous bus trip while walking around. We have even seen a few from other segments of our time in Indochina. It seems as if the itineraries all include the same spots; people just decide on their own unique order. I like to see there are many, many true travellers. Most are from various parts of Europe, Australia, and Canada. It takes less time to get first-hand knowledge from these folks than looking something up in a Lonely Planet guidebook.
This town is small, so we walked about a great deal of it easily on foot. We also hit 'the hill' in time to see the sunset, we and three fourths of the tourists in town that is. We are deciding if and which tours from here we might try tomorrow. Of course we might end up getting up late again ...
